HUNTSVILLE - The mayors of the two respective communities in line to receive a majority of the financial windfall from the possible reopening of the Kearney graphite mine say they are understandably pleased with the news.

Paul Tomlinson of Kearney and Huntsville’s Claude Doughty expressed optimism as to what the relaunch of the suspended mine might mean financially to their communities.
We are in a economically depressed area and unemployment is high,” said Tomlinson. “Certainly the news of Tembec and Grandview (closures) is on everyone’s mind … now we are hearing from the employment agencies in the area that the word of the mines re-opening is getting out there and they are receiving applications already.”Tomlinson said the two regions are already receiving some fiscal impact as the mine’s owners, Ontario Graphite Ltd., has been working on getting the facility ready to start up again, possibly as early as this fall.

Doughty said that while the mine is located in the Kearney region, his community would undoubtedly receive some economic impact.

“Technically it’s not in Huntsville, it’s close at hand ... but certainly a lot of their resources that will be required to get that facility up and running would come from here. It stands to be a significant impact for our community. If the mine were to be reopened, it is expected the operation could create as many as 80 jobs in about one year’s time. Some of those positions will be technical in nature, however, according to mine management, about 60 of those 80 jobs will be recruited from the local employment pool.

One of the Huntsville resources currently being used comes directly from its town hall. Tomlinson said his municipality has been working with Huntsville’s economic development and grants officer John Finley, since Kearney does not have an economic development officer of its own, and the Muskoka town would reap some financial reward if the mine did reopen. “Using his experience, he is helping Kearney formulate some plans with respect to using some resources from the area ministries,” he said.
The Kearney mayor said that he and Finley both see some positive things economically, and not just the 70 to 80 new jobs.

“It is the other businesses that are going to benefit. They haven’t even started mining yet and (Ontario Graphite Ltd.) provided me with a list of 25 businesses from Huntsville and Kearney that have received some benefits already, from hardware stores to hotels to services,” he said.

Tomlinson said that the company has begun hiring staff, including one person from the Huntsville region. Tom Myatt, president and chief financial officer of the mine, said that an increase in the pricing and the increase in the demand for the product justified the company going back in there and reopening it.

The open pit mine, which rests on more 435 hectares down Forestry Tower Road was operational from 1991 to 1994 and has been sitting idle ever since, despite an attempt about three years ago to get the mine restarted. Ontario Graphite began working with Stantec Consulting on the closure plan in June of 2011.

“We’ve still got some permitting hurdles to go through. We’ve got some approvals required from The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources,” said Myatt. “Most of those have been applied for or the applications will be in in the very near future.”

As a result of an assessment carried out in the closure plan, Ontario Graphite will provide financial assurance to the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines in the form of certificates of deposit totalling $4.9 million.

“It’s a lot for a small company like us but it is what the projected cost of doing the closure would be if it was done by a third party; if we hired contractors to do it and not do it internally ourselves,” said Myatt.
Ontario Graphite is taking advantage of about $60 million in existing infrastructure and mineral resources to support a mine life of more than 30 years at the site.

“We have the office building out there now and have communications set up for both Internet and voice over IP through the Internet,” said Myatt. “We’ve done refurbishment of the maintenance buildings and are doing some work rebuilding pumps and checking motors that need to go through inspection before start up.”
- With files from Mary Beth Hartill

Source: http://www.cottagecountrynow.ca/news/local/article/1316534--graphite-mine-may-reopen